The present invention relates to a contacting unit for a card-shaped support element for electronic components (printed circuit board), especially according to PCMCIA standard, that comprises, in addition to the strip plug of the printed circuit board at the narrow side of the card, a contact field at a surface of the printed circuit board for contacting a chip card. The chip card is introduced parallel to the printed circuit board into a slot-shaped insertion channel which is positioned between the base plate of the housing and the printed circuit board. It is open at the longitudinal sides and has an insertion guide at the narrow side of the housing opposite the strip plug. The printed circuit board is secured by a plastic frame which is arranged at the cover plate of the housing. The invention further relates to a method for producing such a contacting unit.
A contacting unit of the aforementioned kind is known from German Gebrauchsmuster 296 07 253. A card-shaped support element according to PCMCIA standard is arranged in a housing and can be inserted into a matching slot of a computer, especially a notebook computer, whereby electrical contacting is realized by a strip plug arranged at the leading end of the housing. The housing of the known contacting unit is also designed to receive a chip card in a slot-shaped insertion channel of the housing of the contacting unit which extends parallel to the printed circuit board. The chip card can be read by a contact field arranged the face of the printed circuit board. The combination of a PCMCIA card and chip card contacting unit to be inserted into a matching modular slot of a computer for reading is already known form European patent application 0 552 078 for various applications, for example, electronic banking, pay TV, securing of access authorization to computers or data networks, memory expansion etc. A disadvantage is that the known chip card readers of the aforementioned kind have a widened housing portion in the form of an enlarged insertion guide for the chip card which projects from the insertion area of the modular receiving slot of the computer. Such a projecting portion at the same time provides a handling strip for the user. However, the reading devices are thus considerably longer than the standardized PCMCIA card and project in the operating position with the widened slotion from the receiving slot of the notebook so that there is a risk that, during mobile handling, the contacting unit can jam within the slot and can be bent or even broken off. Such a widened slotion has been considered necessary in order to provide for safe guiding of the chip card into the slot-shaped insertion channel and to ensure proper insertion without canting, i.e., to insure proper insertion, securing and removal of a chip card.
With the increased use of lap top computers, notebook computers and similar transslotable computers, there is a technical necessity to be able to insert a chip card reader completely into the receiving slot of the computer into the operating position without having projecting parts that could impair handling of the computer. This is especially important where data protection on a portable computer is of utmost importance in that access to the system is only possible when the correct password has been entered and a personal chip card, for example, a smart card of the size of a conventional telephone card, is inserted into the reader and the reader is inserted with the chip card that contains the access authorization into the PCMCIA slot of the computer. It would be very cumbersome for manipulation of the thus operation-ready computer when projecting parts of the chip card reader were still present. The complete insertion of the reader into the PCMCIA slot of the computer is thus an important feature for success in the marketplace. The conventional contacting units can not fulfill this requirement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a chip card reader which can be completely received in the receiving slot of the computer, i.e., can be inserted into the PCMCIA slot completely without projecting portions whereby despite the shorter embodiment of the reader a safe insertion guide for the chip card is provided and mechanical stability is ensured while its manufacture is simple.